Colorado Beef Ranch Turns into Vegan Animal Sanctuary

The Surf and Turf Animal Sanctuary now protects animals that were previously destined to be killed after ranch owners adopt a cruelty-free lifestyle.

A former Larkspur, CO cattle ranch recently transformed into a vegan nonprofit called The Surf and Turf Animal Sanctuary. Owners Jen and Tray Federici operated the ranch as a small but lucrative business that raised cows to sell them for slaughter. As lifelong animal lovers, the couple came to a realization that they would eat meat only if they slaughtered the animal themselves, but were unable to cope with killing an older cow they had selected from their herd. “We officially had our last ham Christmas 2016,” Jen Federici says. “We never looked back after that. We swore off all meat as well as all animal products. Needless to say, we have never felt better or more healthy, both mentally and physically.” Earlier this summer, the couple turned their 100-acre ranch into a 501(c)3 Nonprofit Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, and it is now home to a variety of animals, including longhorn cows, calves, pigs, goats, chickens, and zebras, along with other rescued animals. “We choose to go forward in our lives not as consumers of animals but as ambassadors for them,” Jen Federici says. “No animal wants to die, just as no human does. Animals are amazing soulful creatures. We believe every animal deserves the life [they were] given.”

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